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BDS Around the World - South America

The next chapter in an informative series about BDS

September 06, 2016

image: Wikipedia

The BDS movement manifests its activities in different ways. They have an innate ability to adapt their narrative and activities to the country that they are in. BDS feel a certain sense of pride in their activities and are not shy to boast about their plans.

Here is a glimpse of how BDS is manifesting around the world:

South America

The BDS movement is also gaining huge momentum in South America. Support is prevalent amongst not only civil society and trade unions but at a government level as well. At a recent conference of Latin American Solidarity with Palestine, the following statements were made:

“The voice of the South in support of Palestine is growing steadily stronger,” said the Bolivian ambassador to the UK at a conference held in London on 22 August. Speakers from Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Chile and Grenada reported on major changes of attitude both by governments and civil society, aided by the explosion of social media and a greater diversification of mainstream media outlets.

Cuban diplomat Jorge Luis Garcia pointed out that Cuba was the first Latin American country to cut diplomatic ties with Israel, as early as 1973. Even further back, when the UN voted on the fate of the Palestinians in 1947, pre-revolutionary Cuba was one of the 13 countries – the only one from Latin America - that voted against partition. Cuba has continued to demonstrate solidarity with Palestine, consistently affirming the right of return and calling for full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories.

Ecuadorian Minister of Culture and Heritage Guillaume Long, among others, paid homage to Cuba as “the giant of South-South politics” citing its long-term support for liberation movements in Africa and its intervention on the side of Syria during the 1973 Yom Kippur war. “We are the proud heirs of this strong internationalist position, in standing by Palestine,” he said.

Some examples of recent examples of BDS activity includes:

Campaign to exclude Israel from the next Olympics

Targeted protests against Israeli Defense company Elbit

Suspension of a Brazilian funded Brazil-Israel project

Brazilian musician Caetano Veloso announces he will never go back to Israel